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Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves
Consultation Summary
November 2019
Published by the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council
November 2019
Also published on www.veac.vic.gov.au
© The State of Victoria
Victorian Environmental Assessment Council 2019
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Australia licence.
You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit
the State of Victoria as author. The licence does not apply to any images,
photographs or branding, including the Victorian Government logo and the
Victorian Environmental Assessment Council logo. To view a copy of this licence,
visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Disclaimer
This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its
employees do not guarantee the publication is without flaw of any kind or is
wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all
liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you
relying on any information in this publication.
Contact details
Victorian Environmental Assessment Council
Level 39, 2 Lonsdale St
GPO Box 527
Melbourne, Victoria 3001
Phone (03) 9637 9902 or 1800 134 803 (toll -free from landline)
Email veac@delwp.vic.gov.au
www.veac.vic.gov.au
Acknowledgement of Aboriginal Victorians
The Victorian Environmental Assessment Council pays its respects to Victoria’s Aboriginal peoples,
Native Title Holders and Traditional Owners and acknowledges their rich cultural and intrinsic
connections to Country. Council recognises that the land and sea is of spiritual, cultural,
environmental and economic importance to Aboriginal people and values their contribution and
interest in the management of land and sea.
Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary November 2019 | i
Contents
1. Introduction 2
1.1 Victorian Environmental Assessment Council 2
1.2 Background to the assessment 2
1.3 The assessment process 4
2. Traditional Owners 5
3. Consultation and information gathering 6
3.1 Defining coastal reserves 6
3.2 Submissions 6
3.3 Community information sessions and workshops 6
4. Summary of feedback 8
What VEAC heard about… 9
…Public land management arrangements and administration 9
…The inventory component of the assessment 12
…Climate change 12
…Future planning 13
…Emerging or changing uses 14
…The assessment process, scope or final report 15
…Areas of uncertainty for public land managers 15
5. Final report 16
Appendix 1. Victoria’s coastal reserves 17
2 | November 2019 Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary
1. Introduction This Consultation Summary outlines the main points that VEAC heard from local communities, land
managers and other stakeholders relating to VEAC’s draft report, maps and associated inventory
for the Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves. The draft report, maps and inventory were
published in October 2019 and are available on the VEAC website. Public consultation closed on 11
November 2019.
1.1 Victorian Environmental Assessment Council
VEAC provides the Victorian government with independent and strategic advice on matters related
to the protection and management of the environment and natural resources of public land. It was
established under the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council Act 2001. The Council
conducts its work in accordance with the VEAC Act. Public land is defined in the VEAC Act; it
excludes private freehold land, land owned by local councils and Commonwealth land.
VEAC carries out its investigations or assessments and provides advice at the request of the
Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change. Together the Act and terms of reference
provided by the Minister describe how an investigation or assessment must be conducted, including
the number of reports to be prepared, matters to be taken into account, timeframes and public
consultation.
The VEAC Act was amended in 2016 to allow the Minister to request the Council to conduct an
assessment or to provide advice in relation to a matter that, in the opinion of the Minister, does not
require an investigation, having regard to the matter's limited scale or scope or its technical nature.
Assessments do not require formal public consultation unless specified by the Minister in the terms
of reference. This assessment of the Victoria’s coastal reserves is requested pursuant to section
26B of the Act and the terms of reference specify one period of public consultation on the draft
report. For the purposes of this assessment coastal reserves include any Crown land along
Victoria’s coast (including the coast of any bay, inlet and estuary and the Gippsland Lakes).
The current five members appointed to VEAC are Ms Janine Haddow (Chairperson), Ms Joanne
Duncan, Ms Anna Kilborn, Dr Charles Meredith and Dr Geoffrey Wescott.
1.2 Background to the assessment
On June 2018, the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, the Hon Lily D’Ambrosio
MP, asked VEAC to conduct an assessment of Victoria’s coastal reserves, including their legal
status, significant values and values that are at risk from the impacts of climate change.
The assessment has been requested to assist the Victorian government’s future planning and
decision-making for Victoria’s coasts and support the government’s marine and coastal reforms.
The focus of the assessment is to provide information and recommendations to assist future
planning and management effectiveness. It does not include making recommendations for changes
to current uses of coastal reserves.
The purpose of the assessment is to:
a) review the number and types (reservation status) of coastal reserves in Victoria
b) identify reserves with high environmental, cultural heritage, social and economic values and
identify values at risk from the impacts of climate change
c) identify current and emerging uses of the coastal reserves, and
d) compile an inventory, including spatial distribution, of values and uses of the coastal reserves.
Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary
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The Victorian government accepted recommendation R22(a) in VEAC’s Statewide Assessment of
Public Land Final Report (2017) to provide information on the number and types of coastal reserves
and an inventory of values and uses to assist future planning, decision-making and enhance
management effectiveness. The Marine and Coastal Reforms Final Transition Plan (2018) also
includes this VEAC assessment as action 1.2.
Box 1 Terms of reference
Pursuant to section 26B of the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council Act 2001, the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change hereby requests the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (the Council) to carry out an assessment of Victoria’s coastal reserves1.
The purpose of the assessment is to:
a) review the number and types (reservation status) of coastal reserves in Victoria;
b) identify reserves with high environmental, cultural heritage, social and economic values and identify values at risk from the impacts of climate change;
c) identify current and emerging uses of the coastal reserves; and
d) compile an inventory, including spatial distribution, of values and uses of the coastal reserves.
As a first step, the Council is required to publish a definition of coastal reserves to be used in the assessment, including a diagrammatic representation and map of Victoria’s coastal reserves.
The assessment and associated inventory will assist the Victorian Government’s future planning and decision-making for Victoria’s coasts.
The Council must take into account relevant agreements under the Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010.
As part of the assessment, the Council must produce a draft report and seek public comment on it.
The Council must report on the completed assessment by 6 December 2019.*
1 For the purposes of this assessment, Victoria’s coastal reserves include any Crown land along Victoria’s coast (including the coast of any bay, inlet and estuary and the Gippsland Lakes) that is:
a) reserved under section 4(1)(ze) of the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978 for the protection of the coastline or is otherwise reserved under that Act and is landward of low water mark; or
b) unreserved Crown land under the Land Act 1958 that is landward of low water mark.
For clarity, Victoria’s coastal reserves do not include any Crown land described as a park or marine
sanctuary in Schedule 2, 2B, 3, 4, 7 or 8 to the National Parks Act 1975 or any unreserved Crown land
from low water mark to the outer limit of Victoria’s coastal waters (mostly 3 nautical miles).
*extended to 6 March 2020
4 | November 2019 Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary
1.3 The assessment process
The key steps for the Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves are specified in the VEAC Act and
in the terms of reference. A flow chart showing the key steps for the assessment is provided below.
In July 2019 a technical definition of coastal reserves was developed with the assistance of
practitioners and key stakeholders (see section 2.2 of the draft report).
A map of Victoria’s coastal reserves is shown in appendix 1 of this Consultation Summary.
The draft report and associated inventory of values and uses were released on 9 October 2019.
These documents, along with supporting fact sheets and maps for each coastal municipality, are
available on the VEAC website at http://www.veac.vic.gov.au/investigation/assessment-coastal-
reserves
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2. Traditional Owners Traditional Owners have told VEAC they do not separate coastal from associated catchment or
marine values. For VEAC’s recent Assessment of the Values of Victoria’s Marine Environment,
Traditional Owners advised that the nature of Aboriginal culture and knowledge means that there is
not a well-documented inventory of information relating to sections of the Victorian coast available
to decision-makers. This was considered to represent a very significant gap under the terms of
reference for that assessment.
Chapter 7 of the report for the Assessment of the Values of Victoria’s Marine Environment provided
an outline of the Aboriginal cultural values for Sea Country in Victoria, based on a report prepared
for VEAC by the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations. A strategic framework
prepared by the Federation was also included articulating Victorian Traditional Owners’ long-term
goals and objectives for developing and applying Indigenous knowledge and practice for Sea
Country in a contemporary Victorian context.
The Draft Marine and Coastal Policy (2019) acknowledges that institutional barriers have limited the
opportunities for many Traditional Owners to manage and use land and Sea Country, and to have
their voices heard in planning and decision-making processes. Recognising this history, the draft
marine and coastal policies do not attempt to speak on behalf of Traditional Owners. They support a
broader self-determination approach that emphasises the need to listen to and respect Traditional
Owners’ voices and knowledge throughout planning, management and decision making in the
marine and coastal environment.
6 | November 2019 Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary
3. Consultation and information gathering Stakeholder consultation is a key part of VEAC’s work, tailored to the nature and specific
requirements of each investigation or assessment. For this assessment, the consultation process
has included provision of information to interested organisations and individuals, targeted
stakeholder consultation on technical information (e.g. draft technical definition of coastal reserves)
and one formal written submission period on the draft report.
Information gathering and data analysis form a major component of the assessment. VEAC has
worked with land managers, local government and state government to collate the information
necessary for this assessment of coastal reserves.
3.1 Defining coastal reserves
The terms of reference (box 1 on page 3) provide only a general description of Crown land to be
included or excluded from the assessment. The terms of reference therefore note that the first step
for the assessment is publication of a draft definition of coastal reserve including a diagrammatic
representation and map of coastal reserves. Establishing a definition and map base of coastal
reserves is a precursor to preparation of an inventory of values and uses and other analyses
required for this assessment.
A technical definition of coastal reserves was developed with the assistance of practitioners and key
stakeholders and circulated to them for comment in July 2019.
Section 2.2 of the draft report includes a technical definition of coastal reserves and additional
comments in response to this definition were invited.
3.2 Submissions
Written submissions are one way for VEAC to seek community views on issues and values
associated with public land. For this assessment, the terms of reference required VEAC to produce
a draft report and seek public comment on it.
Submissions were made via the VEAC website or by email. VEAC considers all the information,
views and comments made in written submissions.
Submission period
There was one submission period for the Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves . The
submission period commenced on 9 October 2019 with the release of the draft report and the
associated inventory and interactive mapping, and closed on 11 November 2019.
The release of the draft report and its availability on VEAC’s website was advised by email bulletin
and a notification was published on VEAC’s website and Facebook page. Letters were also mailed
to public land licence holders without an available email address. Licence and lease details were
provided by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) (July 2019).
VEAC received 11 submissions with eight received from organisations and three from individuals.
3.3 Community information sessions and workshops
Community information sessions and workshops were held in five locations along Victoria’s coast
(Inverloch, Lakes Entrance, Frankston, Warrnambool and Geelong) between 23 October and 31
October 2019. The community information sessions were advertised on VEAC’s website and
Facebook page, and in some key regional newspapers. The sessions were also advertised in an
email news bulletin sent to a mailing list compiled for the assessment. Sharing of the email and
Facebook post with others who might be interested was encouraged.
Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary
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Overall, 45 people attended the sessions with between 7 to 10 people at each session. The
sessions provided an opportunity for face-to-face engagement with VEAC. Attendees were able to
learn more about the assessment, view maps and other information and to provide input into the
assessment. Most people came to hear the introductory presentation on the assessment and to
participate in group discussions. Key elements of the assessment were discussed in the workshop
component of the sessions.
8 | November 2019 Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary
4. Summary of feedback VEAC is considering all the input received during the community information sessions and
workshops, and in submissions, as it develops the final report for the assessment of Victoria’s
coastal reserves. VEAC heard from residents, visitors, community organisations and land
managers. Helpful information was provided about changing or emerging trends and uses,
important values, as well as issues and information about specific places. The assessment has
benefited greatly from the knowledge provided by all who were involved in the consultation.
The main topics highlighted in submissions and at the community information sessions and
workshops were:
• the importance to the community of coastal reserves and coastal public land more generally
• management issues at specific sites along Victoria’s coast stemming largely from
increasing population pressures, changing uses and the impacts of climate change
• a need for clarity and consistency to support management decision-making
• the complexities and confusion relating to public land management arrangements along the
coastline
• uncertainties faced by public land managers as a result of climate change and how it will
impact prioritisation of resources
• a desire for a coordinated strategic approach to managing and responding to climate
change impacts on Victoria’s coastal public land
• opportunities for proactive management decisions, open communication and leadership by
government in response to the challenges presented by climate change
• observations relating to changing uses and emerging trends on coastal reserves in Victoria.
The following sections summarise the information, opinions and comments that VEAC heard,
grouped by common themes, and responses to ‘comments invited’ sections in the draft report. The
statements made in the following sections are not VEAC’s views or interpretations and VEAC does
not attest that they are factually correct. They present the range of views and input that VEAC heard
during stakeholder engagement activities for this assessment.
For further details on these points and other suggestions and comments made during the
consultation, see the written submissions published on VEAC’s website.
Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary
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What VEAC heard about…
…Public land management and administration
General
• management arrangements are often complex and confusing – it is not always clear which
agency to contact – especially in the Gippsland Lakes area; management is fragmented
and poorly coordinated between the range of responsible land managers and agencies
• Traditional Owners should be more involved in the management of coastal areas
• improved acknowledgement, respect and involvement of First Peoples in conservation of
Victoria’s coastal reserves and waterways is needed
• management of coastal land often involves the balancing of visitation/public access/social
values and the protection of the environment
• coastal reserves provide important public open space and must be retained and expanded
where possible
• coastal reserves provide a buffer zone between the coastline and marine environment
• coastal reserves should be used for coastal-dependent uses, rather than uses that could be
accommodated on other areas of public land
• issues and concerns were raised about some specific sites, including:
o several locations within and around Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale
o Belfast Coastal Reserve
o the northern coast of Phillip Island
o areas of other coastal public land including national parks and marine national
parks at Port Phillip Heads and along the Great Ocean Road.
Management of natural values
• coastal reserves identified as having high natural and other values should be managed to
protect and enhance these values in the long term
• coastal reserves should be primarily managed to protect their environmental values such as
native vegetation, landscape and water features
• identify and protect areas fringing wetlands that are vital for shorebirds and migratory
waders from inappropriate uses and population pressures
• management decisions are compromised by a lack of research on some natural values
(e.g. sandy shore ecology)
• some environmental values are poorly protected (e.g. fossil sites)
• include restoration of coastal vegetation and reparation of sand dune erosion
• leave seaweed on beaches as it is important for shorebird feeding, shelter and habitat
• improve control of invasive plant and animal species in the marine and coastal environment
10 | November 2019 Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary
• community groups should be more involved in pest plant and animal control where possible
to facilitate greater appreciation of and pride in the natural values of the area, and to
strengthen community connections to nature
• better waste and pollution controls are needed for waterways and stormwater systems
• there is a need for better public education around protecting the marine and coastal
environment
• priority should be given to allowing natural coastal processes to occur, rather than
engineered coastal defences; and to retaining and maintaining or restoring natural inlets
and waterways wherever possible.
Management of recreation and tourism values
• all visitor facilities (such as car parks and access tracks) and coastal industries should be
positioned to minimise impacts on natural and cultural heritage values
• there can be rapid increases in visitation to some sites that have little or no existing
infrastructure (toilets, car parks, formal walking tracks) resulting in increases in erosion and
other negative impacts; these are hard to predict and manage
• some activities prevent other users from safely using the beach, compromising the
enjoyment of public land for some users or threatening important natural values
• opportunities for tourism and visitor facilities should not be prioritised above environmental,
cultural and social values; decision making should assess the social values of coastal
areas, rather than return on investment
• coastal reserves, and Crown land more generally, do not need to provide economic returns;
this perception undermines their importance to communities
• actions on coastal reserves should not diminish the values of Victoria’s marine environment
• the presence of dogs in coastal reserves is a safety issue in some locations and may not
comply with regulations.
Resourcing
• funding of land management has not increased in line with visitation rates
• land managers are under‐resourced and rely on volunteers
• in order to obtain funding for public land management from DELWP, supporting evidence or
studies are often required but these require significant resources to produce (especially
problematic for volunteer public committees of management)
• inadequate funding can lead to inappropriate decision making by land managers who
require revenue to support management of the reserve (e.g. commercial developments on
coastal reserves)
• management decisions can be complex; for example, provision of an all-accessible footpath
ensures that Victoria’s coast is accessible to everyone, however, this infrastructure
occupies a larger area of coastal land and has significant financial costs
• public safety is prioritised by land managers with unsafe areas fenced off from public
access as a short-term measure; however, implementing longer-term solutions is generally
outside scope/capacity for local land managers
• some coastal heritage structures are deteriorating.
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Administrative arrangements
• the land manager for coastal reserves is often unclear; make it clearer in the final report
• management arrangements are often complex and confusing
• undertake a review of the number of management authorities for coastal land in Victoria
• strong government directives are needed to coordinate management across the numerous
management agencies
• facilities and infrastructure on coastal reserves should not be privately managed
• consider establishing one authority to manage and protect Victoria’s coastline.
Reservation types and purposes, and planning scheme zoning
• all coastal reserves should be permanently reserved
• all coastal reserves should be reserved for specific purposes and that purpose should
inform planning and management decisions
• unreserved coastal land should be assessed and reserved for the appropriate purposes
• the purposes and objectives for coastal reserves should refer to the need to protect the
coast and coastal reserves in the context of climate change
• the purpose for each coastal reserve should be clear and should give clarity around the
appropriate and inappropriate uses of the area; this is especially important given the
increasing demands on reduced areas of coastal land due to climate change
• planning scheme zoning often permits inappropriate uses to take place on coastal reserves
• consider a zoning system to highlight areas with important environmental values and
manage to protect these values as the primary purpose
• coastal reserves are used for public recreation, and areas abutting townships or
settlements, should be zoned Public Purposes to accommodate the diverse range of uses
• all coastal reserves should be zoned Public Conservation and Resource Zone (PCRZ) so
that planning proposals include a public consultation process.
12 | November 2019 Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary
Governance or administrative processes
• the community should be able to participate fully in decision making, including appointment
of committees of management, and not just when decisions have already been made
• Coastal management consent processes are vague and don’t properly involve the
community
• Coastal siting regulations are often ignored – they should be strengthened or adhered to –
and they should be monitored for compliance
• the lack of formal implementation of government-accepted LCC/ECC/VEAC
recommendations has implications for management
• many of the issues identified in the Victorian Coastal Strategy in 2002 remain unresolved
and should be re-evaluated.
…The inventory component of the assessment
• the inventory should be incorporated into DELWP’s Crown Land Information Platform
(CLIP) project to make it more accessible
• managers already have access to much of the values and uses information in the inventory
(and more detailed location specific information)
• suggested additions to the inventory:
o Victorian Heritage Inventory dataset/archaeological values
o more detail on coastal access infrastructure (car parks, roads, trails); levees
o pest plants and animals; invasive species
o ecosystem services
o more detail on threats
o add the Parks Victoria Visitor Experience Framework information relating to the
locations of activities and buildings to the inventory
o identify sites of current/active erosion in the inventory
o active uses; areas used for surf sports and water sports
o land subject to inundation overlays from local government.
…Climate change
• many members of the community are afraid of the effects of climate change and there is a
need for proactive management – as well as open communication about the rationale
behind management decisions – by local, state and national government
• a coordinated national or statewide strategic approach is required to managing and
responding to the impacts of climate change on coastal land
• Victoria should look to what is being done in other places around the world for guidance
• the option of ‘retreat’ should be discussed more often and how this might be practised
should be explored
• a consistent decision-making approach is needed based on values at each site rather than
precedents established in other locations
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• some coastal areas in Victoria are ‘canaries in the coalmine’ for climate change hazards
e.g. Mount Martha, Apollo Bay, Ocean Grove, Inverloch, Point Lonsdale
• visitors go to other areas if a popular area is affected by coastal erosion e.g. people now go
to Mount Martha South instead of Mount Martha beach
• there is an opportunity to try and pre‐empt the loss of some areas and proactively ‘activate’
an alternative place (and communicate this decision openly to the public)
• we need to improve our understanding of the impact of climate change on Victoria’s utilities
infrastructure such as electricity, water, sewerage, and phone lines
• instead of representing sea level rise and storm surge at two points in time (2040 and
2100), show it as an overlay using elevation only to indicate the immediacy of the issue
• undertake an asset and infrastructure liability survey for future climate change impacts
• erosion is affecting sea walls in addition to sand dunes
• erosion resulting from sea level rise and storm surge can expose historic rubbish/tip sites
resulting in household waste on beaches
• climate change is directly impacting coastal environments and action to mitigate climate
change is needed now
• further research could be used to identify areas of increased vulnerability and targeted
management works could be undertaken in these areas to reduce coastal erosion
• in the context of climate change, inundation and erosion, the coast requires careful
management and the guiding principle should be that there is limited, if any, development
allowed in these areas
• utilise extensive local knowledge when considering the impacts of climate change on the
local values of coastal reserves
• marine and coastal management plans should be prepared with local communities to
outline responses to inundation and loss of private and public land, and appropriate funding
should be allocated
• increase protected areas on Victoria’s coast to compensate for land lost to sea level rise.
…Future planning
• new coastal infrastructure should be built according to the future projections for a site e.g.
the bottom level of a new surf lifesaving club should be designed to permit periodic flooding
and buildings should have the capacity to have upper levels added
• siting and design guidelines or a coastal erosion overlay could be used to help decision-
making around where infrastructure can and cannot be built on coastal reserves
• new developments or infrastructure should be placed well back from the coast, inlets or
waterways, and buildings and infrastructure should be relocated over time
• there is a need for greater continuity and structured governance to manage the
environmental pressures of continued population growth
• opportunities to acquire additional areas of coastal reserve should be investigated,
especially in places with no coastal reserves or they are narrow or fragmented
• opportunities to protect or construct biolinks between coastal reserves and inland vegetated
public land should be investigated
14 | November 2019 Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary
• there is a need for a consistent agency response that is based on science and appropriately
resourced to assist with management works in high impact areas
• questioning the necessity for increases in demand for coastal infrastructure to be met when
other priorities may be more important for coastal Crown land
• future population growth should be managed to protect the coastal spaces between
settlements and the existing town boundaries should be maintained
• the coastline is fragile and needs to be protected from increasing pressures relating mostly
to increasing human use.
…Emerging or changing uses
• peak visitation to Victoria’s coast has increased and peak periods last longer; this is on top
of already increased baseline visitation, even in the winter months
• more people visiting the coast have dogs
• more cultural heritage sites might be revealed as a result of coastal erosion
• we might see more scuba diving as a result of warmer waters and people are swimming for
more months of the year using wetsuits
• some changes in visitor use are sudden and difficult for managers to predict e.g. staff from
Mornington Peninsula Shire get around 400 people visiting the Pillars at Mount Martha (a
jump rock spot) on some days, likely due to sharing information on social media
• include in emerging uses or changes the wide use of mountain and trail bikes, jet skis and
increasing numbers of recreational fishers and swimmers
• the numbers of visitors and the activities undertaken on coastal land need to be actively
managed due to growing populations placing increasing pressure on available areas (e.g.
better manage the number of tourist buses visiting the Great Ocean Road)
• some commercial activities are increasing and may require access across coastal reserves
Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary
November 2019 | 15
• nature-based tourism is increasing
• emerging uses or trends include the use of the coastline to generate energy through
harnessing wave energy, offshore wind turbines, and tidal energy
• anticipating changes to use or emerging uses is very difficult.
…The assessment process, scope or final report
• consider all types of public land on Victoria’s coast (not just coastal reserves) to provide an
overview of all of Victoria’s important coastal public land; the definition of coastal reserves is
too narrow for this assessment
• the use of case studies in the report is a good way to demonstrate complexities
• consider restating those coastal reserve government accepted LCC/ECC/VEAC
recommendations from previous studies that have not yet been implemented
• resolve whether the overlays of conservation and recreation zones for coastal reserves
recommended by the Environment Conservation Council in 2000 are still relevant
• consider recommending a more holistic approach to managing coastal land in Victoria
• general appreciation and acknowledgement of the comprehensive body of work that has
gone into the draft report
• requests for updates with new material or minor corrections to some information for the final
report
• discuss further the impact on estuaries of climate change and sea level rise
• include more information on fire risk management, including Traditional Owner input in
management planning and protection of assets
• planned retreat should be discussed in the final report
• include more information that would assist land managers to prepare for the effects of
climate change, especially the likely impacts on ageing coastal assets and infrastructure,
and of funding availability.
…Areas of uncertainty for public land managers
• coastal land managers are seeking tools to help them prioritise management of competing
values or uses
• land managers are uncertain in making decisions about where to invest resources because
of coastal hazards e.g. what is the priority for pest control in areas at risk of erosion when
there are limited resources?
• how climate change projections are applied to new coastal infrastructure siting and design
• need for greater understanding of what the community expectations are for management of
coastal areas affected by climate change
• how the ‘Doctrine of Accretion’ will be applied to coastal areas impacted by climate change
• need for clarity with title boundaries, especially in the Gippsland Lakes area as it is
impacted by climate change.
16 | November 2019 Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary
5. Final report VEAC will take into account the input it has received from all consultation activities in developing the
final report, maps and associated inventory for the Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves.
The Council thanks everyone who has provided VEAC with information, opinions and ideas relating
to coastal reserves in Victoria.
The final report will be provided to the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change in
March 2020 and published on VEAC’s website within seven days of submission to the Minister.
Notice of the publication of the final report will be issued via VEAC’s website, Facebook page and
by email bulletin to the mailing list for the assessment.
Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves | Consultation Summary
November 2019 | 17
Appendix 1. Victoria’s coastal reserves Higher resolution maps are available at http://www.veac.vic.gov.au/investigation/assessment-
coastal-reserves/maps
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